The Draining Away

Delusion and deception are beginning to drain away to reveal the truth of God. A deluding spirit has been sowing deception in the hearts of people for a very long time. This deception is so great that those held under its spell have been blinded to an emerging reality. They are no longer able to celebrate the smallest victories of hope or the first steps toward reconciliation no matter how obvious those things may appear. 

Jan and I lived in Berlin, Germany just 6 years after the Berlin Wall came down. At the time, the city was in a massive rebuilding project. Our apartment was located in a neighborhood called Lichterfelde (“field of light” in German) on Am Pfarracker (“on the pastor’s acre”). Our apartment was #23 (Psalm 23 is the shepherd's Psalm). I am not making this stuff up! We only found out about these meanings after we moved into our apartment and learned a little German. 

The Berlin Wall ran right through the heart of the city. East and West Berlin stood in stark contrast to each other. One commentator said when the wall came down it was as if someone had drained a lake. When the draining was finally over, a bright and colorful island called West Berlin emerged with its beautiful structures and streets filled with prosperous shops and smiling people. That image of freedom stood alone surrounded by the gray and depressive architecture and subjugated populace of East Germany. 

That contrast was still very visible when Jan and I lived in Berlin. I could ride my bicycle a few blocks south of our apartment to cross no man’s land where the wall once stood. In that passage, I went from bright-colored homes and streets into the still lingering muted grays and browns of failed Communism. After the wall came down and freedom filled the nation, it was East Berlin that needed to be rebuilt, not West Berlin.

Each of us has a choice to make as events unfold around us. God can use whomever He desires to bring about these events – even people from the opposite side of the political aisle or people who do not believe as you believe. When the draining of delusion and deception is done and the completed work of God remains as a stark and undeniable piece of transformational evidence, how will you respond? 

Are your political affiliations, your educational credentials or your current relationships demanding that you continue to deny what is beginning to stand before your eyes? Choosing to believe the best when believing the best has not been in fashion is an act of courageous faith. The future belongs to those who see with the eyes of faith.